report
Irende de Craen
0. Introduction
Expub is a consortium between Nero Editions (Rome), Institute for Networked Cultures (Amsterdam), Aksioma (Ljubljana), and Echo Chamber (Brussels) for a biennial of experiments on new publishing formats. The idea is to bring to light knowledge and practices developed by members over the past years in an industry, that of publishing, which continues to expand beyond the classic terms of traditional linear publishing. Through events, public programming, print and digital publications, .expub aims to create an operational model for Expanded Publishing.
[+chloe to take notes]
- You are partecipating in an expert sprint -> an informal space to discuss freely about your practice and ideas. While our focus is on expanded publishing, we want to know about your field a seires of 10 interviews with experts, artists, editors to understand the whys, hows, whos, and whats of expanded publishing. That is how the interviews will be structured, allowing 10 minute for each, with a moment of open discussion. The other interviewees are Clusterduck, Silvio Lorusso, [Thomas Spies], Irene de Craen, Geoff Cox, Open Source Publishing, Yancey Strickler, Kenny Goldsmith, Dušan Barok, Caroline Busta.
We are recording this with plans of creating a hybrid report, and eventually a toolkit or publication, but mistakes silences and uncertainty are part fo the plan
1. Why: Politics of Publishing (Mission/Theory/References/Ideals/Goals) - 10 mins
Why do you operate in the way you operate? Do you have a mission, ideal, goals that guide it?
What do you hope to achieve with your practice?
If you were putting together a syllabus on publishing practices, what would be some references, theories, materials?
backgroudn in visual art, art curator, white cube unsatisfaactory because of need to include different voices, incl. non art
stopped working as an art curator, publishing seemed to be able to combine more differences
errant journal as an exibition -> for many people it’s just a collection of images,
glissan’s opacity, ariella azule - potential history? - https://www.versobooks.com/products/857-potential-history?_pos=1&_sid=e3b3ab064&_ss=r
maybe one day she’ll be fed up with the limitation of publishhing
there’s a lot fo potential for refusal and subversion
2. How: Infrastructures of Publishing (Tools, workflows, operations, (revenue) models for Writing, Editing, Printing, Distributing, Promoting, etc ) - 10 mins
How is an editorial product born, developed, and published within your practice?
errant journal is set up in a specific way
organizationally
before errant, she had a space -> it was limiting -> the bigger the more limiting -> even without budget, they had to fill the space, leading to burnout, ridiculus to perform like that
advantage to not have a space, indipendent publisher there’s no space to take care of, not publishing epriodically, but whenever she’s ready to, good reasons to extend deadlines, so you can create your own pressure
making space for people’s lives, often problems connected to topics the journal discusses
What are the main tools you are using and which ones would you like to use more in the future?
What is the life/evolution of your editorial objects?
What does your workflow look like?
*What is your revenue model for writing, editing, printing, distributing, promoting? *
subscription model -> how do you do that if it’s not periodical?
How do you ensure or work towards a sustainable practice?
importance of payments, renumeration, not obvious even in ‘decolonial’ magazines
tools are anti-glissantians
delicate personal relations, not tools, conversations in real life if possible
inviting contributors to push back - idiosyncracies, not talking to a boss
how to operate within NL tight boxes,
a lot of rejections of her business model, precaious, no overhead, no buildings, no staff, still expected to have a 10 year plan, however there would be no reason to stop unless she wants to stop, which is a more “sustaibnale” plan, no costs,
ads and sales are the income
the whole industry lives like this
can’t go bankrupt as an artist, until you’ve died,
although it’s not a business model, it’s sustainable
3. Who: Community of Publishing (Network, Collaborations, Readers, (sustainable) engagement) - 10 mins
decolonial practices, challenging western ideas while operating in a white, western space
guest editors, coco journal? anarchist feminist on MENA region,
How have you created your community of readers and collaborators?
Doing it one step at a time
One way that is unusual, remembering something she’s read a long time ago and then look for that person
tuvalu, second smallest island nation, tiny strips of sand, sinking,
spamming people
open calls: still flawed, experience in residencies, looking for ‘exoerimental’ almost nothign is, often 99% white/western, marketing tool of the response to the open call, not promote it because of quality>quantity, placing it where people are interested in, proposal as emails references and bio,
tiring for people applying, so simplifying that process to unburden people, after rejection still can work
finding fanbases in cairo/phillipines/architects -< hopw do people find you?
Who is your audience? How do you engage them?
In what ways do you see the role of the editor as a creator of community?
people are sometimes intimidated by her, but she wants to create a space where she can be contradicted, she needs to hear it, don’t pretend she’s right, groups freak her out,
**publications are the world of the introvert **
book fairs - horror situation, actually people don’t talk to you
nice to meet the people who read the journal, art students, univeristies and academics, artists, fascinating to look at the research of the people reading, often it’s weird stuff
How does one capitalize on community? How do you turn social capital into capital? Is it exploitative to do so? Is community a viable business model?
4. Open Discussion - 15
q_ alternative renumeration models
janez: limitation of art space, aksioma’s space - did you found a limit to “the publication” ? do you ask yourself how new tech can open new horizoons or expand concepts of publishing?
irene - there are limitations that are there from the start - still communicating in english for instance - but important to still play/subvert that - maybe in a few years but for now havent reached that limit
not another “nice exhibition” - paper is important, really wants printed
errant has a smell - maybe the only one - working together with media matic - subversive way, not promoted, “i was ownderimg where that salad smell was coming from”- fun way to expand publishing
lorenzo: precarious business model, pop-up opportunities, fragile model that doesn’t guarantee continutiy, but it’s a characteristic of independent publishing, are you fine to be stuck in this situtaion? or are you interested in growing beyond this indepentent model? how can you grow with this kind of limitaion?
i want to resist the characterisation of it as fragile, it will stop only if i want to stop it,
other people she talked to their ideas did not turn into a journal cause they didn’t receive funding, she’s not dependent on it, which gives her freedom
only 45 subscribers, but subscription model is quite lucrative, it’s a monthly revenue that she can count on, 11 univerities paying more, cca in montreal - https://www.cca.qc.ca/en/ chance encounters and collaborations and balanced with independence,
revenue from ads,
we’ve been thaught that those models are fragile, banks are not throught like that but gov need to save them - it’s a perception that we have
not working with interns, she finds it problematic, volontary assitant, all white, all people who are able to work for free, rather do the work herself than exploit someone, it doesn’t fit the ‘giving space to other people’ idea - can’t do an internship if you have to work -
q: subversive publishing, limits of printing
letting artists come up with ideas,
sound pieces
printing costs are a limitation
refusing to pay for credits from certain colonial museums, becuase they steal, you can steal back, redrawing an image, finding equal sources from non white non male, sahl ahmed, citation, knowledge creation,
expanding subverisve publishing series
lorenzo: function of her ecosystem
when the first issue was coming out, was covid, everything was falling apart - no book fair etc … the podcast started as a form of publishing, of having content online, now also using to have conversation - research method - the other things, podcast… “i just want to” - revamping website on her own with codes - so funding soesnt fund the technical things so some content online can serve as funding for that - not wanting to talk if I have nothing to say
publishing: if you don’t have something to write, say don’t do it, pulliting
janez: detox from public appearance - not an artist anymore - is your work self exploitative? where is the border? mechanisms of self defense for this?
irene: going back to the booklet of subversive publishing - manifesto points “consider not publishing” / i have to enjoy the process - press pause when its too overwhelming / we need to take a break
saying no
5. What: Future of Publishing (Defining and Speculating together on Expanded publishing) - 10 mins
What are the more urgent aspects that need to be addressed in the future of publishing?
What is one aspect that already exists that needs to change and one thing that still doesn’t exist that needs to be developed?
How do you imagine publishing expanding in the next few years (audience, medium, tools, models)? In which directions do you see it progressing and in which do you see it regressing?
What is at the horizon of the publishing industry?
If you could have a say in how the publishing industry will expand and evolve in the future, what would you want to see more and what would you want to abandon?
there is no future - decolon perspective, future is a fraud
not technical development or progress
learning to give more space to fit the politics of what we do into the working methods,
precariousness doesn’t fit, cultural sector bending too much to political will
small subversive acts, hopefully infect other people with these easy tools,